Forget about that bald bloke heading to the Bundesliga, the only managerial development of significant note this week belongs to Doncaster Rovers. After Dean Saunders skipped off to coach Wolves a couple of weeks back, it appears that the League One side are targeting a much younger manager for the hot-seat.
......... Don't worry! We survived it once and we can do it again, and this time, oh how
we are in a better position!
Think back to this god awful time last year. Bye-bye Fabregas and Nasri. Now think about the
situation we are in now. Bye-bye Van Persie and Song. Ask yourself, which two players would you
prefer to have?
......... Don't worry! We survived it once and we can do it again, and this time, oh how
we are in a better position!
Think back to this god awful time last year. Bye-bye Fabregas and Nasri. Now think about the
situation we are in now. Bye-bye Van Persie and Song. Ask yourself, which two players would you
prefer to have?
Romelu Lukaku yesterday signed a deal with West Brom on loan for this coming season and immediately
spoke of playing first team football. He said:
'I'm very excited. After last season, where I was able to adjust and prepare for this
season, I can't wait to start at West Brom.
It's very important because, like Chelsea, West Brom play in the Premier League, but it will also
be a good learning school for me where I need to work hard with the players around me.
Only recently, more question marks were raised over Darren Fletcher's playing career by none
other than his Manchester United boss, Sir Alex Ferguson. However, Scotland boss Craig Levein has
now announced that the 28-year-old United star will link up the national side ahead of their
friendly against Austrailian on August 15th.
Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Liverpool's prospects of reaching a new long-term deal with
Luis Suarez are strong due to the forward's belief in the former Swansea manager's football
philosophy.
Rodgers became synonymous with a fearless attacking style at Swansea last season and after
speaking to Suarez in recent days, the gaffer is thrilled to discover how excited the Uruguayan
star is to bring that brand of football to Anfield.
Brendan Rodgers is hopeful Luis Suarez will sign a new contract at Liverpool as he revealed that
talks had taken place.
The boss has also had dialogue with Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel and has stressed their
importance to Liverpool over the coming seasons.
On Suarez, Rodgers said: "I have had a good conversation with Luis over the phone.
Morning all. No surprises last night with Germany progressing to the semi-finals. I wasn't sure
they wanted it until Greece equalised but then they went about their business with a typically cool
Germanic air to break the Greeks hearts. They will be hard to beat.
To fill in some time before "life" starts again, on August 18th when we play Sunderland at home,
GunnerN5 has set the following quiz to test your knowledge on Arsenal history.
Morning all. No surprises last night with Germany progressing to the semi-finals. I wasn't sure
they wanted it until Greece equalised but then they went about their business with a typically cool
Germanic air to break the Greeks hearts. They will be hard to beat.
To fill in some time before "life" starts again, on August 18th when we play Sunderland at home,
GunnerN5 has set the following quiz to test your knowledge on Arsenal history.
Arsenal's summer signing Lukas Podolski believes that he has already made his impression on
manager Arsene Wenger and insists that he is not distracted by the latter's coverage of the
tournament for French television.
Podolski has somewhat struggled to make an impact offensively in Germany's two opening matches
but as noted by teammate Per Mertesacker, his defensive involvement has been impressive.
Gylfi Sigurdsson does not see himself signing a permanent deal at Swansea and he would be
interested in joining Liverpool but he has not yet spoken to Brendan Rodgers regarding a possible
move to Anfield.
After arriving in January, the attack-minded Iceland midfielder took the Premier League by storm
while on loan at Swansea from Hoffenheim and he seemed set to agree a long-term contract at the
Liberty Stadium.
OTP has teamed up with Savile Rogue to give you the chance to win one of the world's finest cashmere football scarves. Savile Rogue scarves give a nod to football terraces of yesteryear, shunning in-your-face logos and cheap nylon in favour of a traditional bar design and the comfort, quality and warmth of top grade [.
Once again, Chelsea supporters are being asked to show off their artistic skills and come up with
ideas for a new flag that will be put on show preceding specific home matches. The creator of the
design chosen will win two tickets to a game of his or her choice at Stamford Bridge.
Currently, supporters in the Matthew Harding Stand participate in the build-up to games at Stamford
Bridge by way of displaying overhead banners in both the upper and lower tiers.
Luis Zapata has tweeted good luck and well wishes to Wells Thompson this morning, so he's obviously
going somewhere. Rumors right now are that its Chicago. More details when I get them.
A day that would always eventually come, but none of hoped to see so soon. Koz is no longer a
Rapid. This afternoon he was traded to the Portland Timbers for allocation money and an
international player spot.
Its no secret that Koz is (or was, now) my favorite player on the Rapids. That said he's had a
rough year and has been passed on the depth chart by Freeman and Zapata.
QPR's tough-tackling Malian international, Samba Diakite, has returned home to France on a leave
of absence (thought to be 10 days) after suffering from depression.
Although he started the Hoops' first two league games of the new season, Diakite missed the game
against Man City due to his illness.
After banking €70 million from the sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva, Milan are only
willing to spend €20 million of it and they are hoping that it will be enough to sign three new
players, at least according to Tuttosport. We wish them good luck with this; they will need it
considering some [.
I have to say the news that Raul Meireles left Chelsea yesterday wasn't a surprise really was it?
The only surprising thing about this was that he never ended up with AVB at White Hart Lane.
Meireles had been a long term target for Chelsea if reports were to be believed as recent summers
past.
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew has said that he received a good luck text from Jose MourinhoÂ
yesterday, and Jose has a connection to Newcastle, as his mentor Bobby Robson was born in the
area,  and finally managed Newcastle to success in five great seasons on Tyneside in the best
job Bobby ever had and the only job Bobby ever wanted.
It looks increasingly likely that Newcastle United will agree a fee with Celtic that will see
Keeper Fraser Forster sign for the Glasgow club with the fee believed to be around £2 Million.
Forster had previously spent two years on loan at Celtic, and it looks like personal terms have
finally been agreed between the player and the club.
It looks increasingly likely that Newcastle United will agree a fee with Celtic that will see
Keeper Fraser Forster sign for the Glasgow club with the fee believed to be around £2 Million.
Forster had previously spent two years on loan at Celtic, and it looks like personal terms have
finally been agreed between the player and the club.
Though Cologne manager Holger Stanislawski recently pleaded with the club's fans to have sex in
the stands, a group of them has decided they prefer violence instead. Particularly targeted at
23-year-old former Blackburn defender Kevin Pezzoni.
FIFA have actually made a decision. Nope, it's not April Fool's Day.
Like much of South East Asia, Thai club Si Sa Ket have been dicking FIFA round for a pretty long
time. They were ordered to pay former coach David Booth $225,000 back in February but of course
they never bothered. (Complete story can be found here).
Another player gone this week, and so begins the reconstruction period. This time it wasn't
necessarily a player who was beloved by fans, but was a player who contributed in the background,
often coming on as a substitute in recent games. Still, that's not to say Mike Chabala didn't have
a good time here in Portland, and hopefully the fans will remember his contributions to the team
since last summer.
Yesterday we saw the departure of Troy Perkins to the Montreal Impact. Truth is, he was a great
player who both really loved the team and the city that we all endear so much. It's for this reason
that he became such a huge fan favorite here in Portland, even if he wasn't the best keeper in
recent months.
I don't know if you, like me, continued to hold onto some semblance of hope that Didier Drogba
would ink a short-term deal with Chelsea this summer. Sure, the idea may no sense whatsoever as the
end to last season was, well, a perfect ending to a legendary career at the club but that didn't
matter.
I was pleasantly surprised to see this photo as one in a slideshow attached to this Indianapolis Star story about the return of pro soccer to Central Indiana today.
(Yep, that's me, in early 1998, pointing out the place on the jerseys of Mark Phillips and Steve Weiger where we hoped to put a sponsor logo that never panned out.
Dynamo Theory is giving away a ticket in the lower supporters section for tomorrow night's match
against Real Salt Lake. If you want to win that ticket, all you'll have to do is answer a trivia
question. Simple enough.
Just a couple "ground rules". Please only enter if you really want the ticket and will go to the
game, or can give the ticket to someone who will use it.
GET OFF THE BENCH!
Off The Bench is the official podcast of MLSReserves.com. Your hosts, Luke Lohr and Pedro Gomes,
have been recording the podcast since late May and the listenership and listener interaction has
steadily increased. This increase in demand has prompted us to launch a new Twitter handle
(@OffTheBenchPod) for the podcast in order to interact more efficiently with the listener base.
Over 100 un-signed UK players started out with dreams of progressing to the Nike Global Finals
in Barcelona, where the winner will get the chance to sign a pro-contract.
The Chance UK finalists who underwent rigourous tests of skill and temperament are Jose Figura,
Liam Baker and Ashleigh Artwell who were put through their final pace's at the Theatre of Dreams
under the watchful eye of the United coaching staff and players including Rio Ferdinand who left
them some great gifts to at least look like a pro in Barcelona.
Yesterday, Chelsea confirmed that Sam Hutchinson had joined Nottingham Forest on a season long loan
deal and despite the fact that we want to have him here and integrated alot more into the first
team squad, it is a cracking move for him.
We all know what Sam has been through and the desire and the determination he has shown to get his
football career back on track and to have the chance to play regular first team football this
season could be just what he needs at this stage in his career.
I gotta give it to Google today. Their search engine is offering a shootout game. Â
https://www.google.com/doodles/soccer-2012 Give it a try if you get some time. All you need is
your left and right arrow keys and the space bar. Good luck. Link: Google
[Sounders Women - Good luck in London. from Highart Reel on Vimeo.]
The Sounders Women had four of the best players in the world suit up in rave green jerseys this
Spring. They are heading off to London soon and we wanted to wish them well as they take sight on
their 4th gold medal.
Does make you wonder why it took Harry so long to re-sign with the Victory doesnt it. Would have
been very messy if hed needed to leave now after signing in March as he was soooooo happy with
Melbourne...we loved it so much we're off:-) Also given his reputed contract last season was a
financial flop - wa this why he suddenly split with long long time manager Bernie Mandic - always a
few questions around harrys dealings.
For the first time ever, Dynamo Theory is giving something away! Woo hooo!
What is this glorious prize you ask? A ticket in the supporter's section for tonight's match
between the Dynamo and Toronto FC. I know it's nothing too amazing, but it's a free ticket to a
professional soccer match featuring your favorite team in MLS, so that's pretty cool.
With the Euro's well underway, we have teamed up with All Fancy Dress to offer one lucky winner
a £40 voucher to spend on any costume or accessories (perhaps both). To see what you could be
spending your voucher on, why not take a look at the website by clicking here?
Good luck to all fantasy managers and to the supporters of the 16 participating nations. It should
be a fun month. Here are the preview posts we have produced over the last two weeks for the Euro
2012 Fantasy Football ... Continue reading →
